


A Spooktacular Adventure

by synfy



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Ghost Hunters, Ghosts, M/M, mental health discussion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-03
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:02:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,934
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27369220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/synfy/pseuds/synfy
Summary: Logan, Roman, Patton, and Virgil are in a friendly competition. They're all going to spend the night in an abandoned hospital, and each couple has until dawn to gather the most convincing ghost evidence. The competition is friendly- but the stakes are high. Loser has to buy everyone ice cream.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders/Logic | Logan Sanders
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	A Spooktacular Adventure

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a cute little thing that I started writing like, two whole years ago? and then just never got around to finishing. But Phasmophobia is a thing now and Hallowen just happened so I guess I'm thinking about ghosts again.

“Thank you all for gathering here tonight. I know it took a lot of courage to come. Let’s get right down to business.” Roman bowed dramatically and Logan stifled a snort.

A cool wind from the east started up as Roman began pulling various pieces of equipment out of the back of the car, causing Logan to lean his shoulder into Virgil’s for some warmth.

“How did we let them talk us into this, again?” He muttered out of the side of his mouth.

Virgil shrugged. “Patton’s got those puppy dog eyes, you know I can’t refuse him.”

“You know, there are only two letters in the word ‘no’.”

“I dare you to look Patton in the eye when he’s got that expression and tell him no.” Virgil crossed his arms. “Besides, I didn’t see you turning Roman down when he asked you to come.”

“Well, I couldn’t let him go in alone.” Logan sighed and crossed his arms. “Even if this is quite ridiculous.”

“Both teams will have until morning to get decisive evidence of ghosts!” Roman, noticing their conversation, increased his volume. “Thomas, Joan and Talyn have thankfully agreed to help judge the evidence. Remember, we can’t leave the building until sunrise, which is in 4ish hours? So we’ve got plenty of time to get some quality recordings.”

“I want Virgil on my team!” Patton slid off his perch on the hood of the car with a bright smile. “Virgil can fight off the scary ghosts.”

Roman sputtered, affronted. “I can protect you!”

“Nah, Virgil is mine. You can protect Logan for me.” Patton grinned cheerily.

Roman glanced at Logan. “Ugh, fine. I’ll protect the Microsoft Nerd.”

“What a wonderful boyfriend you are. My hero.” Logan said dryly.

Roman didn’t even seem to process the sarcasm of the remark, beaming grandly instead. “So, shall we proceed into the lair of the beast?”

“I think we shall! After all, we have a whole lot to _boo_.” Patton scooped up his equipment and set off with Virgil towards the west wing of the abandoned hospital that Roman had picked out. Roman watched them go for a moment, then turned back to the table and set to work.

“So, I was thinking you could hold the camera, and I’ll hold the EMF meter and the thermometer?” Roman handed the camcorder to Logan without pausing. Logan just rolled his eyes and took it, letting Roman organise things as he wanted.

“You know there is no hard scientific evidence to suggest the existence of the paranormal, correct?” Logan asked, flipping the sideviewer open and checking the camera’s battery and memory. It seemed satisfactory.

“The best evidence in court is circumstantial.” Roman sighed deeply at him and started walking towards the east wing. “Don’t be such a doubter, pocket protector. We’re going to win this.”

~*~

“Hello?” Patton twirled, the camera in his hand. “Anyone want to chat?”

Virgil glanced down at the EMF meter, still dark and motionless. “What exactly are we looking for here?”

Patton spun to face him, walking backwards down the hallway now. He shrugged. “I just want to get someone to say hello to me at this point. Supposedly, the east wing was the children’s and maternity ward. So maybe there’ll be some cute little kid ghosts?”

“Or dead moms.” Virgil muttered. “Aren’t ghosts supposedly made from, like, violent deaths? That doesn’t seem like something we’d want to run into.”

“Just because they died badly doesn’t mean they’re bad people.” Patton glanced over Virgil’s shoulder and frowned. Virgil resisted the urge to look behind him.

“I don’t think badly is a word.”

“It can be a word if it wants to be a word, dear.” Patton nodded absently and kept walking, his eyes still flicking over Virgil’s shoulder every so often.

Gritting his teeth, Virgil tightened his grip on the torch, then spun around abruptly, pointing the beam into the dark hallway behind him. He heard Patton suck in a breath at his sudden movement, but the hallway was empty.

Or rather, almost empty.

A single rubber ball rested against the wall about thirty paces away, completely still. It looked like it had been red once, but age had blackened it. Virgil couldn’t remember if it had been there before or not. The door next to it was opened, just slightly. Actually, all the doors on both sides of the hallway were cracked open a little. Virgil spun around. So were all the ones ahead of them. Had they always been like that?

Someone touched his arm and the torch wavered, then Patton pulled Virgil back to face him.

“Hey, it’s ok. There’s nothing there. I was just looking at a string on your hoodie.” Patton said soothingly, gently guiding Virgil around to face the direction they’d been going. Virgil knew he was lying. There were no loose strings on his hoodie, he was meticulous about clipping threads. Virgil let Patton slip an arm around his waist and start walking forward again.

“So, Logan says ghosts are fake, right?” Patton started, trying to get Virgil to calm down.

“Yeah.” Virgil shrugged. “There’s no conclusive scientific evidence to support their existence.”

“What do you believe?” Patton was looking through the viewfinder down the hallway.

“Well, like I said, there’s no conclu-” Virgil started, only to be interrupted again by his boyfriend.

“That’s not what I asked, Vi. I wanna know what you think, not what Logan says.” Patton’s thumb started rubbing small circles on Virgil’s hipbone, probably an attempt to distract him from the fact that they had slowed their walking speed so Patton could peer into a few of the rooms.

“I’m… not sure.” Virgil shrugged and gave Patton a small smile. “I guess it depends on how good the evidence we collect is. I’ll keep and open mind.”

Patton beamed at him. “That’s the _spirit!_ ”

Virgil rolled his eyes.

“Hey, do you mind if we take a quick peek in one of these rooms?” Patton asked, scanning Virgil’s face carefully.

There was something jittery in Virgil’s chest, but he didn’t want to let Patton down. “Nah, let’s take a look. Which one did you want to check out?”

Patton slowed, looking around. Virgil shone his torch around the hallway, following Patton’s gaze. After a few turns, Patton suddenly stopped dead and looked at one door, just ahead of them to their left. Patton’s hand gripped Virgil’s wrist tightly, stopping him from moving the torch to directly shine on the door. Slowly, Patton brought the camera up to point at it and Virgil held his breath.

Very, very faintly, he heard it. The rhythmic groaning of springs, rusty sounding.

Squeak, squeak, squeak. Pause. Squeak, squeak, squeak. Silence.

Carefully, they approached the door. Virgil’s boots seemed too loud in the hallway. The corner of the EMF meter dug into Virgil’s hand.

“Hello? Is there someone in there? If you want to talk, I’d love to chat.” Patton asked cautiously.

Silence.

The EMF meter spiked. Patton shuddered.

“I’m not going to hurt you, you don’t need to be afraid of me.” Patton glanced back at Virgil. “My boyfriend is here with me, he won’t hurt you either.”

The door creaked open, very, very slightly.

Patton’s finger fumbled blindly across Virgil’s wrist for a moment before gently prying the torch from his hands. Patton turned the beam inside the room and they stepped inside.

The room was dirty, a short window near the ceiling smashed in, littering leaves and broken glass and moonlight across the floor. Behind the door, a small rocking horse sat, still. The paint on the face was worn and faded. The walls were covered in cracked blue paint and swirls of greying clouds. A small bed sat askew in the corner, the mattress shredded by rodents.

The EMF meter twitched.

“My name is Patton, this is Virgil. Do you want to tell us your name?” Patton asked, carefully

A breeze shifted the leaves on the windowsill and Virgil thought he heard a child’s laughter.

“If you want to communicate, please give us a sign of some sort.” Patton shone the torch up at the ceiling, then back around to check each corner of the room.

Nothing happened.

With his heart still thudding in his ears, Virgil couldn’t deny that he was the tiniest bit relieved when Patton motioned for them to leave the room. He carefully picked his way back out into the hallway, automatically scanning the dark for any sign of movement. Patton seemed disappointed. He turned back to look at the rocking horse still waiting in the little room.

“Last chance, if you would like to say hi to us.” He said in a near-whisper, hopeful.

Leaves rustled.

Slowly, horrifyingly, the rocking horse began to bob. Patton stepped forward, back towards the room with a thrilled look on his face. The EMF meter suddenly buzzed in Virgil’s hand, intense, and something cold gripped his chest. Virgil’s hand shot out and he grabbed Patton’s arm, yanking him back just as the door slammed shut with a noise like a gunshot. Turning slowly, Virgil realised every single door in the hallway had shut.

The leaves rustled again.

Without stopping to think, Virgil swept Patton’s knees out from under him, pulling him into his arms, and started running like all of hell was after them.

~*~

“The east wing was where they had the emergency rooms, and the regular check out rooms. So, normal patients were in this wing, but also probably a lot of violent deaths from the emergency rooms.” Roman turned around to grin at Logan, or more accurately, the camera.

“Right, and anything who dies violently becomes a ghost.” Logan snarked. “Roman, refrain from swatting that mosquito, please, it could be a ghost mosquito. Maybe it was killed violently by a nurse. We need to film it.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “I’ll make a believer out of you yet.”

The hallways were dark and quiet, random medical paraphernalia lying around from the time when it had actually been an operational hospital. The walls dripped with paint, black fuzzy lettering over peeling blue wallpaper. There were some darker patches on the walls, spots that Roman made out to be blood in his enthusiastic narration. Realistically, Logan thought it was more likely that they were patches of mould. The ceiling was cracking in places, he noticed. Especially around the air vents, there were places were the roof sagged and looked yellowed. Water damage. There probably was a healthy mosquito population in the building during the summer.

Up ahead, there was a crash and a muffled curse as Roman tripped over what appeared to be an old IV rig. Logan stifled a chuckle as he jogged to catch up with his partner, lowering the camera for a second to offer a hand to Roman. Predictably, Roman didn’t take it and sprung up on his own instead, dusting off his pants as though nothing had happened.

“I am fine, despite the spirit’s attempts to attack me.” Roman said, his character voice slipping out as he pulled on a mask of feigned bravado. “Thank you for your offer of assistance, good sir, but I can take them on my own.”

Logan rolled his eyes so hard he gave himself a bit of a headache. “Apologies for my mistake, then. I assure you it will not happen again.”

“Apologies accepted!” Roman smiled and winked at Logan in that infuriating way that made him want to wipe the expression off Roman’s face with either his fist or his mouth. Logan settled for shaking his head instead.

“Anyway, let’s keep moving.” Roman said, running a hand through his hair. It was a nervous tic of his, but Logan chose to ignore it. He knew Roman well enough at this point to know he was nervous, but wouldn’t appreciate it being pointed out, and he respected that.

“Would you like to investigate one of these side rooms, perhaps?” Logan suggested. Roman’s trademark grin came back quickly.

“Ah-hah! Finally starting to believe, I see. Yes, we can investigate one of the operation rooms.” Roman spun in a circle in the hallway, his arm out like a pointer. When his momentum slowed to a stop, he walked towards the door his arm was aimed at.

Roman opened the door of the room, revealing a dirty and graffitied space. A few loose pipes were piled in the corner and there was a closet by the door. Another IV drip hovered beside the closet, and Logan only stopped himself from cracking a joke about it with great effort. Roman ushered Logan into the room with him, positioning him further away from the door. Roman opened the closet door slowly, keeping his torch trained on the area. Logan tossed his head in annoyance, taking a step back as he did. The movement apparently made him kick a loose pipe that had been placed a little bit away from the others, sending it clattering back into the pile. Roman’s head jerked over at the noise, and Logan automatically turned to point his camera at it.

“Logan, I fucking told you.” Roman’s hands were making the beam of light from the torch waver and his eyes were wide.

For a moment, Logan almost told Roman he’d kicked the pipe. Then, he thought better of it.

“I’m sure it was just a coincidence.” He said, turning his face away from the light so Roman wouldn’t see the smirk spreading across his face. Maybe he could have fun with this after all.

After poking around in the room some more, Roman waving the EMF meter and thermometer around like batons, Roman finally gave up and left the room, heading back out into the hallway to continue his Ghostbusters theatrics.

Logan hesitated in the room for a moment, flipping the camera around to show his face. “This is going to get interesting.”

He gave the camera a quick smirk, fully intending to make that the opening of the final video. He put the camera down and joined Roman out in the hallway, nearly jogging to catch up with him.

“Do you want to try looking in a different wing now?” Logan suggested, carefully keeping his face neutral.

“Yes, we should.” Roman nodded and they started walking down the hall again, this time headed towards the centre of the hospital with purpose.

When they reached it, Logan took a moment to look up at the sky through the glass dome that topped the ceiling in the middle of the hospital.

Suddenly, Roman’s head jerked off to the side to stare down one of the dark hallways. His hand gripped Logan’s elbow.

“Lo, do you hear that?” He whispered, voice frantic.

Logan frowned and cocked his head, straining his ears to hear past Roman’s breathing. And hear it, he did. Footsteps, starting out faint but growing louder, rapid, as if something were running at them. He stared down into the darkness, waiting for whatever it was to show itself.

When two figures burst out of the shadows into the light of their torches, it took Logan a moment to recognise who they were.

Virgil, running as quickly as he could, with Patton in his arms, bridal style. Patton waved over Virgil’s shoulder to them as they ran past without even slowing, right down another hallway.

“Would you like to investigate that hallway that our friends just emerged from?” Logan asked, patting the hand Roman still had clenched on his arm.

~*~

When Virgil finally set Patton back down, the tarnished bronze signs told him they had made it to the south wing, where the long-term patients had been treated. Great. Of all the places he could have picked, he just had to choose there.

“Vi? Are you ok?” Patton asked once his feet were back on the ground, placing a careful hand on Virgil’s heaving chest.

Wordlessly, Virgil pulled Patton into a tight hug. Patton let out a little squeak of surprise but hugged him back readily.

“I thought you didn’t believe in ghosts, dearest.” Patton’s voice was slightly teasing but his arms were warm around his shoulders.

Virgil mumbled something unintelligible into Patton’s shoulder before pulling away. “It’s fine, let’s just keep going.”

Patton searched his face carefully for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. So, where are we?”

Virgil took in a deep breath and winced internally. “The south wing, where the long-term patients were.”

“Long-term? Like comas, cancer, or?”

Virgil took his torch back when Patton offered it to him. “Um, yeah. Also, mental illness patients.”

“Then, we’ll fit right in.” Patton grinned cheerfully. Virgil rolled his eyes but trailed after him, shining the torch across the doors to the rooms. Some were closed, some were open. This hallway was more cluttered than the last, wheelchairs and abandoned gurneys sticking out at odd angles from the walls.

The rooms had no windows in them, Virgil noted as Patton wandered into one of them. The hinges of the door creaked in protest when Patton toed it open. Aside from the lack of a window, the room wasn’t all that different in construction from the ones in the children’s wing. The bed shoved into the corner was bigger, of course, but it still showed it’s age. Springs poked out from the sides of the mattress like rusty rotini, limp and sad. The walls were painted a neutral mint colour, paint peeling and cracked. Graffiti littered the room, people’s names and peace signs in red and black lettering.

Patton glanced around a few times and sighed. “This place feels weird. Not a bad weird, just… weird. I dunno.”

“Do you wanna go back into the hallway?” Virgil asked, his voice nearly a whisper.

Patton shrugged. “I guess.”

They did, and Virgil glanced at the thermometer and EMF meter. Both were still and silent in his hand.

After walking down the hallway in silence for a few more minutes, Patton stopped so abruptly that Virgil almost ran into him. “Pat?”

Patton held up a hand, spinning slowly in a circle. Instantly on edge, Virgil started scanning the shadows in the corners for any sign of movement, tensed and ready to spring at the slightest disturbance.

There was nothing, except some more graffiti scrawled on the wall.

_Ryan is a scaredy-cat_ , the right wall proclaim ed .  _Shane is a demon,_ sa id the left one.  Virgil wondered who Ryan and Shane were.

Virgil glanced at Patton and nodded slightly, to let him know he was ok.

“If there’s anyone here who would like to talk, just let us know, ok? I bet it can be really boring in here, with no one to talk to.” Patton started talking to the air. “I just wanted to let you know, whoever you are, that I’m a good listener.”

Virgil want ed to stop him, tell his boyfriend to shush, but he d idn’t . Patton  had taken on that tone that he gets sometimes when Virgil’s having a bad day, quiet and rhythmic and a little deeper than usual, soothing. If Virgil was a ghost in a mental health ward of an abandoned hospital and someone offered  to listen to him in that voice, well. Virgil’s not going to deny any poor ghosts who just want a friend.  He let Patton keep talking as they walked, the cadence of his voice wash ing over frayed nerves.

The end of the hallway  wa s unimpressive when they reach ed it. The doors  were shut firmly with a thick metal chain.  Sighing,  Virgil check ed his phone for the time.  They still had a little bit before sunrise. 

“Can we stop here? Patton asked, peering over his shoulder at the screen.

“Uh, sure. You want to rest?” Virgil asked as Patton sat on the dirty tile floor.

Patton  g ave Virgil an apologetic look and Virgil immediately kn ew they were about to do something he won’t like. He s unk to the floor next to him with sigh. 

Patton set the camcorder on the floor in front of him, and the torch in front of that. Virgil gave him a questioning look.

“If we’ve only got an hour left, we should try to get some evidence, right? This is a competition, after all.” Patton looked sheepish and Virgil found himself smiling, just slightly. Everyone always forgot how fiercely competitive Patton was.

Instead of an answer, Virgil pulled out the EMF meter and thermometer and set them on the ground, propped up so they could both see the screens.  Patton leaned over and kissed his cheek gratefully. 

The torch Patton had set on the ground in front of them was off, and Patton  spare d it a g la nce before he look ed up into the darkness and start ed talking. 

“Hey, so I’ve got a torch here. It’s one of those twisty ones, you know. Probably a little tap will change it.” Patton shrugs. “So, I’m gonna just ask some questions. Turn the light on then off for yes, keep it on for no. Sound good?”

Virgil held his breath.

The torch flashed.

Patton’s fingers found Virgil’s, shaking with either fear or excitement.

“Did you die in this hospital?”

Another flash.

“Were you a patient here?”

Flash.

“Did you die naturally?”

The light c a me on and sta yed . 

Patton drew in a breath and the light shut off.

“I’m sorry.”

Darkness.

“Was it a doctor or nurse?” Virgil asked, surprising Patton.

Flash.

Virgil winced. “Doctors can do more harm than good sometimes, I know.”

Patton squeeze d his hand. “Were you  in here for a physical illness?”

The torch turned on.

“Mental illness, then?”

The light shut off, then flashed.

Patton and Virgil smiled sadly at each other. “Yeah, we know how that is.”

“Hey, I don’t know what the treatments for that kinda stuff were in your day, but I bet they weren’t fun. I’ve heard stories of shit like electroshock.” Virgil said carefully. The torch rolled to the side a little. “I just want to say that I’m sorry for you, and tell you it got better. It’s not perfect now, but it’s better.”

The camcorder beeped, a little memory card icon blinking in the view finder.  Patton reached forward and turned the camera off. 

“Should we go?” He asked quietly.

Virgil looked over at his boyfriend, feeling oddly calm. “Yeah, let’s go.”

Patton grabbed up the camera and torch, Virgil putting the EMF meter and thermometer in his pockets again. They’d totally forgotten the instruments when they were talking to whatever ghost had been with them.

Standing up, they looked at each other.

“We appreciate you talking to us. I hope you can find peace.” Patton said aloud. His torch stayed dark and unlit in his hand, but as they walked away, Virgil could have sworn he heard a female voice whisper _thank you._

_~*~_

Roman excitedly swung the torch around to face the hallway behind them. “Did you hear that, Lo? It sounded like a very faint scream.

Logan quickly readjusted the camera so it was on Roman, instead of the placement of his rubber soled shoe against one of the looser floorboards. “It just sounded like a mouse or something to me.”

“A-ha! So you admit to hearing it!”

“I am not deaf, Roman.”

Roman shook his head in exasperation. “You’ll believe. At the rate we’re going, I’ll have you convinced ghosts are real before sunrise.

“I’m sure.” 

Roman took off along the hallway. Really, he was just making Logan’s job so much easier by always taking the lead. As they walked along the abandoned wing, Logan did have to admit the area gave him the creeps. But it wasn’t a I-think-I’ll-see-ghosts kind of creeps so much as a I-think-I’ll-walk-face-first-into-a-spider-web-by-accident creeps. And really, no one enjoyed walking face first into a spider web. Especially not the spider. 

Roman walked like he knew where he was going, pausing every few paces as though he’d heard something. After getting about halfway down the hallway, he opened up a door at random and walked into what appeared to be a bathroom. There were no urinals, only about a dozen stalls. Logan followed Roman in, pushing one of the stall doors all the way open. The hinges were old and there wasn’t any water in the toilet bowl. Logan let go of the door and filmed it slowly drifting shut for a moment, then took slightly larger than normal steps to catch up with Roman. 

As Roman went to investigate one of the stalls on his own, the other stall door finally slammed shut with an echoing click. Roman jumped. 

“Lo, did you hear that?” Roman pointed back towards where the door to the hallway was. 

“A door? We are in a room with a lot of doors.” Logan shrugged, but pointed the camera in that direction anyway. 

“Yeah, but one of them just moved on it’s own. Something else is in here with us!” Roman sounded terrified, but looked thrilled. 

“A mouse, perhaps?”

Roman scoffed. “Oh, just help me look around this place for anything else.”

_~*~_

“Time for judging?” Thomas moved forward so he was perched on the edge of the couch, looking excitedly at the tv as Logan fiddled with something on the laptop. They’d gotten back from their ghost hunt a little past dawn and all had headed straight to bed. Patton and Roman had slept in to nearly 3pm, while Virgil and Logan had been up at noon to start editing. By the time 8 o’clock rolled around, the videos were ready for presentation. 

Roman had declined to look over Logan’s work when he offered, claiming he knew it would be perfect no matter what.  Patton, on the other hand, had sat down with Virgil to help as soon as he had woken up, smiling at the video. 

Roman sat proudly at the coffee table, his back against Thomas’s legs.  Joan and Talyn were taking up the corner of the couch, Talyn curled up in a ball that made them appear even smaller while Joan was upside down with  their feet over the back of the couch. At the opposite end, Virgil had his head in Patton’s lap while Patton carded his fingers through his purple hair. 

“I believe I have everything set up properly now. Would you like view Patton and Virgil’s compilation first?” Logan sat up with a sigh, cracking his neck. 

“Yes! Save the best for last.” Roman grinned brightly. Logan smirked, inclining his head towards Roman slightly. 

“Here is their video, then.”

Virgil had cut out much of the walking scenes, so it started with them in the children’s wing, Patton walking backwards with the camera pointed at Virgil. A red arrow that Virgil had added in pointed to the darkness over Virgil’s shoulder in the video. There was slight movement in the corner of the video, enough to make Roman scoff and Thomas let out a little noise of surprise.  The video continued, and Joan applauded Patton’s ghost puns. Talyn squeaked when the doors in the video slammed  and Roman started to howl with laughter, forcing Logan to pause the video. 

“That’s why you sprinted past us! Oh my god!” Roman put a hand on his sternum, chest moving with full-bellied laughter. Virgil gave him the finger.

“Listen, it freaked me out, so I picked Patton up and started running.” Virgil glared at him. “Shut up, Princey. Logan, keep playing the video.”

Logan mumbled something that might have been “ghosts aren’t real, Virgil, you big coward”, but started playing the video anyway.  The video cut back in as they reached the end of the hallway, showing them sitting down and beginning to talk to the ghost. Thomas and Talyn both gasped as  the torch flicked on for the first time.  Everyone was silent as they watched the conversation. Virgil thought  he saw a few people hastily wipe away a tear.  When the video ended, the room was silent. 

Then Roman shrugged. “Ok, that was good, but you’re all about to be blown away by what Logan and I got.”

Logan nodded, a faint smirk on his face.  The video started to play. 

It opened with Roman peering at a closet, then the sudden rattle of a pipe across cement.

“ _This is going to get interesting.”_ Logan’s recorded voice came from the tv, and Roman sprang up from his spot as he realised exactly what was going on. 

“Logan, you… you… you fiend!” Roman leapt over the coffee table, arms outstretched, but Logan was already on his feet, dashing up the stairs. Roman ran after him, and a door somewhere upstairs banged shut. There were muffled shouts and a noise that might have been a book being thrown.

Talyn, Joan, Thomas, Patton and Virgil looked at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing.

“So, I think we can conclude that Pat and Vi are the winners?” Thomas said through his chuckles.

Patton let out a little cheer and kissed the top of Virgil’s head. “ Yay! Ice cream to celebrate?”

There was an excited chorus of “Yes!”

“Personally, I think we should make Logan and Roman buy, since they lost.” Virgil said with a grin.

There was another muffled crash from upstairs and Thomas winced.

“Maybe they could take us all out some other time? I’m not sure Roman will be calming down any time soon.” Thomas offered.

After a beat of consideration, everyone agreed.

“So, I’m thinking the shop downtown?” Joan suggested.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Patton smiled. “We can bring some home in a container for those nerds.”


End file.
